Trip Report: Young Lakes via Dog Lake

This weekend, Jess and I went on our first backpacking trip together in Yosemite National Park. It was a casual three-day, two-night 12 mile loop to Young Lakes from Tuloumne Meadows. Our friend Alexis had reserved a Wilderness Permit a few months earlier, and the three of us set out from Oakland on Friday morning.

We ended up at the trail head later that afternoon. Unfortunately, we started our hike right in the middle of an afternoon thunderstorm. For a few minutes, we were pelted by hail the size of Gopstoppers. Luckily, the storm quickly passed and we were left with fine weather for the rest of the trip.

We only hiked four miles before we stopped to make camp since we couldn't find the trail spur to Young Lakes, we only had an hour or two of sunlight left, and we were pretty tired. I was especially winded, given the high elevation at Tuolumne Meadows and not drinking enough water. We ended pitching our tent near the southern edge of Ragged Peak, with a perfect view of the Cathedral Mountains. Before heading into the tent for a well-deserved night of sleep, we stared out at the clear night sky, and Jess even located the Big Dipper constellation.


The next day we wandered around the wilderness without our heavy packs until we found the trail again. We marked the correct trail with cairns, so others following the trail wouldn't get lost like we did.

We ended up at beautiful Lower Young Lake later that morning, with enough time to scramble up to a waterfall and visit Middle and Upper Young Lake as well. We set up camp near the lake -- which we ended up regretting, because we were harrassed by mosquitoes all day. The three of us coated our skin with an entire bottle of bug spray, and still ended up bitten up from head to toe. Even though we had a beautiful view of the lake that night, we decided to spend the night in the tent playing cards, away from the mosquitoes.

On the third day, we headed back to Tuluomne Meadows. It was a sunny hike back, so we took a quick dip in the icy waters of the Tuluomne River. We left Yosemite later that afternoon and made it back home a little after night fall.